Love for Life
by Orion Tarvers
Summary: Hermione and Draco are married now and life has been great. Draco's been beaming with joy and Hermione...she hasn't been so hot. Plz r&r.
1. Chapter 1

Here is a sequel to Trying to Find the Bright Side.Hermione and Draco are married and are also having fun with what's being thrown their way, at least Draco is. Hermione's kind of...miserable.

Read and review...please. The feedback I get from this chapter will determine if I finish the story.

* * *

Hermione Malfoy sighed as she set down her bag on the couch of her living room. It had been a horrible day. First they had an attack on a Muggle via mail; someone thought it would be funny to send a nasty howler to the man that tried to pull his tie off. The fact that he could have been behead was the down fall. Then they had a tea pot that, once it got hot enough, spewed water out at whoever was nearest it. If that wasn't bad enough, she'd had morning sickness…all damn day.

"What's wrong, love?" Draco asked from the doorway of the kitchen.

"What's wrong? You have the nerve to ask me what's wrong?" she snapped at him. "I've been throwing up all bloody day, I haven't had a moment of peace since I left the house this morning and some one is selling every day muggle items to the muggles with a few cursed and jinxes put on them. I had to handle twelve cases today. Twelve! We're no closer to solving them then we were when everything first started happening years ago. I'm so tired that I can barely move and yet my husband, who swears he loves me, is standing there without a care in the world."

Hermione was, in a word, moody. They'd found out four months ago about her pregnancy and everything had seemed so perfect, they'd graduated three years earlier and Draco and she had gotten married, after, of course, Draco handed over his copy of her diary. He was a freelance potion master; being paid with every time a shop needed replenishing of a potion or Hogwarts needed him to fill in. Snape was as close as a professor could get to retiring and it was starting to show. The headmaster, Minerva McGonagall, Dumbledore had stepped down the year before, had owled Draco saying that Snape was now reducing the Slytherin's to tears along with the other houses.

"That bad, huh?" he asked with a small smile on his face.

"I don't know why _you're_ smiling." She hissed with a glare. "I've got morning sickness. I've had it all bloody day. You're making dinner, cleaning the dishes, catering to my every need and you're going to the market and getting me my favorite ice cream."

"Hermione…" Draco started when she mentioned the market.

"No! You're going and you're going to go with a smile on your face. You're not even going to hyperventilate when you get back. If you do so help I'll make your life Hell."

"I don't hyperventilate." Draco pouted.

"You nearly passed out last time I sent you out there alone." She reminded him.

"Then why don't you go with me this time so it won't happen?" he asked with a smirk.

"Did you hear a word I said? I'm tired, I'm getting sick and I'm your wife. That's more then any woman should have to deal with in a day."

"What do you mean 'and I'm your wife'? I take care of you, I love you. So what if I poke fun at you sometimes. You have to have a few laughs in your life." Draco defended himself.

"If you make me laugh one more time I'm breaking your funny bone." Hermione threatened.

Draco sighed at his wife and went to get his coat. It wasn't so bad going into Muggle London but the store he had to go to was an out of the way place that Hermione swore was the only one that had her ice cream. He didn't really look in the other stores so he'd have to take her word on it.

"I'll be back." He said as he walked passed her. "Sit down, 'Mione. I'll be back in a minute."

She glared slightly at the nickname but nodded none the less and moved to sit down. He should be used to the errand by now but it still left him on edge every time. He made his way down to the street of the small wizarding town, Whinshire, and made his way to the apparationpoint. As he walked he thought of his life. Hermione and he were close to celebrating their two year anniversary and he had no idea what to get her. Last year he'd gotten her a necklace, nothing fancy, just a gold chain with an emerald pendent, real of course, that was surrounded with the symbol of infinity on the gold setting on either side. She loved it and wore it almost daily, but he was at a stand still this year. He'd thought of books but he knew that she had every book she could ever dream of in their library, candies and flowers were out of the question because she didn't consider that proper gifts for an anniversary. It was damn near impossible to shop for her. He reached the apparation point and quickly apparated to the alley way across from the store. Walking across the street, into the store and straight for the freezing section wasn't as bad as it had been the first time. He'd almost gotten run over by a car the last time. He'd never head a more annoying sound then the blaring of that horn.

"Chubby Hubby, Chubby Hubby." He muttered under his breath, searching the familiar shelves for the only ice cream his wife would go near.

"Sir, do you need help?" the store owner asked.

"Do you have any Chubby Hubby ice cream?" Draco asked when he couldn't locate it himself.

"Yes, we do." The man answered, with a small chuckle, as he opened the door of the freezer and plucked out the small container of ice cream. "Expecting, I assume." He added when he handed the container to Draco.

"Yes, how did you know?" he asked in a suspicious tone.

"I can't remember the last guy to come in here who bought that that didn't have a pregnant, demanding woman at home." The man answered with a smile.

"Oh…well, thanks." Draco said going to the counter to pay.

Damn, he always had trouble with muggle currency. He waited for the man to punch numbers into the machine on the front and threw bills down when the man told him a figure. Without waiting for change he walked out of the door and across the street.

"Sir?" he heard behind him as he made it to the sidewalk across the street.

"What?" he asked as he turned around to face him.

"You've given me twenty pounds extra." The man said as he held out his hand to give Draco the money back.

Draco went to reach for it then stopped. "You helped me out of a situation that could have been deadly when I got home. Keep it." He said with a smile before walking away, up the street, at turning at the corner. He sighed in relief when he looked around the corner and saw the man walking back across the street, looking to be mumbling to himself. Draco then hightailed it back to the alley, careful to keep an eye of the store window incase the owner took a look out to search for him again, and apparated back to Whinshire. He made quick work of walking back to the house and entered just in time to see Hermione wake with a start.

"I don't think you're supposed to have cravings so soon." He said as he accio'd a spoon from the kitchen and handed both the spoon and ice cream to his grumpy wife.

"Shut up." She growled as she tried to tear the plastic off of the top of the carton.

Draco quickly snatched the cardboard container when Hermione started pounding it on the arm of the chair when it wouldn't open.

"I got this, don't worry." It had taken three cartons and four trips for him to realize that when she started pounding, she wouldn't stop until the carton exploded for the blunt forced trauma it had received. He received a glare from Hermione for his actions but she soon forgot about him when the ice cream was placed in her hands seconds later, sans plastic and top.

"Thank you, Honey." She sighed after taking the first bite.

"No problem, love. What do you want for dinner?" he asked before kissing her on the top of her head and walking into the kitchen to start dinner.

"I don't care." He heard in response. He smiled at her response, knowing it before she answered.

"We'll have pasta again." He called with a smirk.

"Don't you dare!"

"Fine, what do you want?" he asked again.

"Uh…." which was interrupted with a slurping noise. "Let's just have…"

"Peanut butter and jelly." Draco finished for her.

"Yes please."

Draco smiled at her predictability and set to work on the sandwich making. Hermione had to have hers just so or she'd blow up at him so he did hers first. After that task was done he started his and quickly plated the sandwiches and took them into the living room. He accio'd the milk from the fridge and two classes from the cabinets after setting the plates down on the coffee table that sat in between the couch and the chair.

"Your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, no top crust with peanut butter on both sides with a tablespoon of grape jam spread between the two. On wheat bread of course." He said as her presented her with her sandwich, bowing for effect.

After prying the container of ice cream out of her hand, along with the spoon, he set the plate on her lap and poured her a glass of milk before settling down on the couch opposite of her to start in on his sandwich. He looked up when he heard the plate holding Hermione's sandwich set down on the table top.

"What's wrong?" he asked when she stood up from the chair.

She didn't say a word, just reached over and picked up the milk carton.

"You forgot yourself, love." She said as an answer before pouring him a glass of milk.

"Thank you." He said with a smile.

She returned the gesture and sat down once more.

"McGonagall owled today." He said in order to start a conversation.

"Did Snape make another Slytherin cry?" Hermione asked with a smirk.

"No…. he made McGonagall cry." He corrected her with a smirk of his own.

"Not for awhile. Now eat your sandwich. We have baby names to talk about tonight." He ordered with a nod to her plate.

Hermione smiled again him and set to work on eating her sandwich. The silence was a comfortable one, broken only when Hermione stood up in a rush and dashed to the bathroom.

"Was it something I said?" he called before getting up to follow his wife, a smile on his face the whole time.

Who knew? Draco Malfoy was perfectly content to hold back the hair of Hermione Granger turned Malfoy all evening.


	2. Chapter 2

**No, I don't own the characters. **

**I've updated and hopefully it's a good chatper, I've been working on it off and on since I put up the first chatper.**

**Thanks to:**

Rinny Leonheart- Thank you for liking the chapter, I hope you feel the same way about this one and the prequel.

Ray- I've written and thank you for reviewing.

southernsweetdevil- Thank you for reviewing and thinking it's a cute story

i am cari- lol, I hope I don't sound like I'm an eleven year old, I'm a freshman in college.

xoKaSsIeox- I've updated so no need to fear

**So onto the story. Please review, even if you don't like it. Constructive criticism is a good thing in my book.**

* * *

After last night's session in the bathroom, Hermione swore off peanut butter and jelly for the rest of her pregnancy. Draco didn't believe her but to calm her down he agreed whole heartedly while she groused about the combination of peanuts and grapes. He steered the conversation towards baby names when Hermione started crying over the thought of never having her favorite treat again.

"Allen Alexander is a good name." he said as he wiped her tears with the pad of his thumb.

"I don't like it." She said flatly. "We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl yet so don't go putting all your eggs in one basket."

Draco ignored the muggle expression and nodded in agreement.

"Baylee Rose." He suggested while he rubbed her back.

"Possible." Draco smiled and kissed her forehead.

"What about you, love?" he asked with a kiss to her forehead.

"What about me?" she countered.

"What names do you like?" He asked.

"I like Kaylyne." She said after a short silence.

"No middle name?" he asked when she finished her impute.

"Why does she need a middle name?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes.

"I'm not saying she does I was just asking. Alright, what's your name for boys?" he said to sooth her.

"Gregory."

"No." Draco snapped as soon as the word left her mouth.

"What do you mean no?" she asked him with contempt in her voice.

"Gregory Goyle." He said in explanation.

"Oh, I'd forgotten about him." She said with a small shrug.

"Easy to do." Draco assured her.

He watched as Hermione stared out at nothing. She was a mood when she came home from work today and, much to his surprise, blamed Draco for her having such a horrible day.

_Hours Earlier_

_Hermione walked through the door with a scowl on her face._

"_Hi, love. Better day today?" Draco asked as he remembered the list of things that went wrong yesterday._

"_Better? Are you honestly asking me if I had a good day at work?" she asked, her eyes narrowed._

_Draco thought about his different options and decided to remain silent._

"_The person that's selling the stuff to muggles found out that the Ministry is on to him and decided to throw a damn going out of business sale. Every other owl coming into the Ministry was for the Department of Muggle Related. Then Tari quit, ran out crying in the middle of filing. Crying about all the stress she had. She was holding half of the case load and when she left I got half of it while the rest was split between the four other bloody people in the office. Forty cases on top of my twenty already! God forbid that the other bastards get off their asses. But not to worry, when someone announced they had fresh Danish in the conference room they all hurried."_

_Draco eyes widened at Hermione's use of language. She hadn't been able to say hell without blushing like a Weasley before the pregnancy. _

"_And then I come home to find my husband sitting down on the bloody couch. How could you even ask? My day was bloody fantastic." She finished with enough sarcasm dripping from her voice; Draco was scared the carpet might be stained for life where she stood._

"_Come have a seat, Hermione." He said softly._

"_If you'd have taken the position of Potion master when Professor McGonagall offered it to you, I wouldn't be in this mess." She accused as she moved to sit beside him on the couch._

_Draco was taken aback by her last speech. He hadn't taken the job then because they had just come off of their honeymoon and didn't want to uproot so quickly. He and Hermione had talked about it for a week before he'd given a negative answer to McGonagall._

"_Love, you know we made the choice because…" Draco said in a soft voice._

"_So now it's my fault?" she demanded as she jumped off of the couch and stormed into the bedroom._

_Draco sat on the couch and watched after her. She had to be abusing the power of being pregnant. There is no way anyone could change so drastically without putting their mind to it. Hermione would be just the person to do that._

"_Draco!" she called from the bedroom seconds later._

_Without a thought to her accusation minutes earlier, he sprang off of the couch and was in the bedroom in seconds._

"_What's wrong, love?" he asked as he walked into the room and straight to her._

_She was lying on the bed in tears._

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean it. I'm just upset with the situation at work and well…sometimes I speak before I think." She apologized with a watery smile._

_Draco held his tongue when she said the last part and bent to wipe her tears. _

"_Don't worry, love. I understand." He whispered to her when she leaned into his chest and sobbed._

"_How am I going to be during this pregnancy?" she asked after her tears stopped._

"_I don't know, Hermione, but we'll find out together." He answered, lifting her head so he could meet her eyes. "I love you, Hermione. Nothing you do can change that." _

"_Oh… I love you too, Draco. I don't know how you put up with me."_

Draco was broken out of his memory by Hermione kissing his cheek.

"What was that for?" he asked with a smile.

"You looked lost in thought." She said in explanation.

"I should get lost in thought more often then, huh?" He asked before he kissed her back, her neck receiving his attention.

"No, I want some one to talk to." She answered with a laugh before leaning into him.

"You do most of the talking anyways." He countered when he stopped the attack on her neck and looked into her eyes. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Draco smiled at her and then got up from the bed and walked from the bedroom to the kitchen. He came back with an apple, a bowl of soup with crackers and a glass of water on a tray.

"When did you make this?" she asked after she rolled from her side to her back and sat up against the pillows.

"We have house elves for a reason." He reminded her.

"Oh, yes. I'd forgotten we even had them." she said a little guiltily. They had purchased the house and upon moving in found they had also purchased five house elves in the process. Although she was against it at first, she accepted them and now used them frequently. Of course they had to take a day off every week.

"Well, they didn't. They made every thing that you've ever eaten and said you liked. I can't remember the last time I've seen that much chocolate in one place." He informed her as he set the tray over her out stretched legs. "Tuck in. I have a surprise." He ordered before turning and walking out of the bedroom to eat his own dinner in the kitchen.

"Master Malfoy, we have prepared you're dinner." A house elf squeaked when he entered the kitchen.

"Thank you." He said before he sat down and ate his dinner, which consisted of steak cooked rare, creamed potato's and two nice thick slabs of garlic toast.

Draco looked up from his dinner when he heard a tapping sound on the window above the sink. He looked down at his meal and sighed before standing up to retrieve the owl. He opened the window and took the letter from the nocturnal bird and watched as it flew off. Looking back to the letter he sighed as he recognized the writing.

"McGonagall." He hissed.

Before he opened the letter he glanced back at the door of the kitchen to make sure Hermione wasn't in sight. She's have a fit if he didn't tell her about it first thing but he had to make sure nothing in it would upset her.

_'Dear Mr. Malfoy,_

_I am writing this letter to inform you of the retirement of Severus Snape. I would once again like to take the opportunity to ask if you would be interested in the Potions Master position. I would strongly suggest you take the position but with a baby on the way I know that your life will be rather hectic. Please discuss this matter with Hermione as soon and there is time available and send a reply._

_Thank you,_

_Minerva M. McGonagall _

_Head Mistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'_

Draco sighed and re-read the letter. The news of Snape retiring wasn't a big surprise but her once again asking if he would take over the position was. He'd apprenticed with Snape for two years after he'd graduated and had have enough of teaching children who seemed destined to fail. He, of course, hadn't mentioned that to Hermione when they'd had the discussion almost two years ago and now that they were expecting their first child he didn't think it was the best time to bring that up. It wasn't that he didn't like children, if that was the case Hermione would have never gotten pregnant in the first place. He had a problem with their attitudes towards school work. He'd never been as horrible in his school years as half of the kids attending his alma mater now.

"Draco, what's wrong?" He heard from the doorway.

Looking up he saw Hermione standing in the doorway with the tray in her hands. "Nothing, love. You should have called; I would have come and gotten it for you. Go back to bed and rest." He said as he rushed to get the tray from her hands.

"No, I needed to get up. I can't get used to lying in bed all day until I take maternity leave." She explained, with a smile, as she sat down at the table in the chair opposite of the one he had been sitting in. "who's the letter from?" she asked when she noticed the envelope on the table.

"McGonagall." He said as he set the tray down on the counter. He walked back to the table and sat down. "She wants me to be the Potions Master. Snape retired… finally."

"Oh, well you can't take it." She said simply.

"You were just yelling at me for not having a steady job and now you're telling me I can't take one?" Draco asked with a glare at his wife.

"Well, we have a child on the way." She said after she turned pink from embarrassment. She must have forgotten her rant at him earlier.

"I know that, Hermione." He said patiently.

"There's no way we could live at Hogwarts as a family. I mean, there's barely enough room for a professor in their quarters.

"I know that, Hermione. I didn't say I was taking it." Draco explained as a headache started to form.

"Oh." Hermione looked at a lose for words, as if she'd wanted to have a fight of words.

"I've been thinking about setting up a shop in town. It would bring in a steady supply of money and it's not something that would go out of style anytime soon." He told his wife after a small silence.

"That is a wonderful idea!" Hermione agreed at once.

Draco smiled and immediately started in on the details that he knew she would ask about eventually. Hermione sat and listened as he explained his ideas and couldn't help but smile when she noticed how excited he was about the thought of owning a potions store.

"I think you should look into it. I haven't been through town a lot lately but I'm sure there's some building you could buy." She said before lapsing into silence.

"I know that look, Hermione. What are you thinking?" He asked when Hermione's eye's lit up.

"Oh… nothing." She answered with an innocent face.

"I'm not McGonagall, Hermione. I know that face hasn't been sincere since before you started Hogwarts." Draco pointed out to her.

"Well I never." She said in what was meant to be an offended tone.

"The smile gave you away, love." He said with a smirk.

"Damn. Well, it isn't a complete plan, yet. I'll tell you when I've thought everything out." She promised before hefting herself out of the chair.

"So I only have to wait another month?" he asked with a sigh.

"I don't take that long to have a complete thought, Draco. I _was_ thetop girl in our class." She pointed out, her chin tilted high.

"_I_ was top boy. I know how you work. You tell me that you have a plan now and then, after you make me wait so long I've forgotten about it, you tell me months later."

"It's why you love me." She said at his put upon tone.

Draco smiled at her and stood up from his chair as well. He followed her back into the bedroom and laid down on the bed, watching as Hermione walked around to her side of the bed. He turned on his side and held an arm out and waited for her to cuddle into him before he covered her growing stomach with his hand.

"We're going to be parents, love." He whispered into her ear with a smile.

"I can't believe it." She answered with a smile of her own. "We have to start on the nursery soon."

"We have five months." He said with disbelief in his voice. She always was one to start thing early.

"We should have started last month." She said with seriousness in her voice that Draco didn't like at all.

"We have five months." He repeated.

"I heard you the first time." She said with a sigh.

"It didn't seem like it." He mumbled.

"I heard that too." She said as she lightly shoved him. "I'm serious, Draco. We don't want to save this for the last minute."

Draco sighed and nodded in agreement. He was pathetic, he was a yes, dear man… he was whipped.

* * *

So...how did you like it? 


	3. Chapter 3

Here is another chapter. I hope ya'll like it. Drop me a line to say if you do or not.

* * *

Draco woke to the sound of the knocker on the door.

"Who the hell is here at this time of night?" He heard Hermione snarl.

"I don't know, love. I'll find out." He soothed her, kissing her forehead before rolling out of bed to stumble to the door. "What the hell do you…"

"Draco!"

"Severus." Draco answered the shocked man at the door. "Come in." he added when they stared at each other.

"Thank you." The dark man in front of him offered, even though a sneer was already forming on his mouth. He'd only ever been here once and the last time Hermione had taken one look at him and walked out of the house, not to be seen until after Severus left.

"Please, have a seat. I'll be right back; I have to tell Hermione you're here."

He turned and went back into the bedroom to see Hermione glaring at the door.

"Severus is here." He said with a wary glance behind him, thinking Severus followed him by the look in his wife's eyes.

"I know, I heard." She replied through clenched teeth.

"I take it we won't be expecting you in the living room, then?" Draco asked her with a small smile, hoping to put her at ease.

"No, I'll be in. it would be rude for me not to greet him." She answered before she rolled out of bed and straightened her clothes before she walked out into the living room, followed by Draco, whose fingers were crossed in his pockets.

"Ah, Dra…hello, Hermione." Severus said as they entered the room.

"Hello, Severus." She answered with a nod towards him. She took a seat on the couch, across from Severus who sat on a chair.

"How are you doing?" he asked while giving a nod of his own towards her rounded stomach.

"Fine." She answered with a false smile. "Why are you here?" she asked bluntly when all Severus did was nod.

"I… I was going to ask Draco if he would take the position of Potion's Master. He's the only one I would trust in the position."

"I've talked about it with Hermione and we don't think it would be a good idea." Draco answered before Hermione could open her mouth. She gave him a look that told him she wasn't happy with him but he merely shrugged and focused on Severus once more.

"Yes, that's what McGonagall had said before I left." Severus answered with a sigh.

"She's talking to you again?" Hermione asked with a raised eye-brow.

"She told you about that?" Severus asked disbelief in his voice. When he received a nod he winced, looking slightly ashamed of himself.

"How did you get her to cry?" Draco asked, always the one to get straight to what everyone else wanted to know.

"Draco!" Hermione scolded, but at the same time eyed Severus expectantly.

"Might as well." The former professor said darkly before sitting forward in the chair and gesturing for Draco to sit down so he could start the tale. "McGonagall and I…"

"You don't call her Minerva?" Hermione asked, interrupting the story but not caring.

"No, I don't call her Minerva." He snapped at her. "Do you want to hear the bloody story or not?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

"Of course I do." Hermione answered before crossing her arms and leaning back into the couch, a pout on her face for being reprimanded by a past professor.

"Then sit there and be quiet. Honestly, if Longbottom wasn't absent I'd swear we were back in my class room." Severus said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now as I was _saying_, McGonagall and I had had a disagreement on how I taught the…children." Severus said the last word in disgust. "She said I was being too harsh with them, that I wasn't taking into consideration, their age and year. I told her that she'd have been better off following in my footsteps seeing that most of the children that came out of her classroom weren't capable of transform a cup into a saucer. She ranted that I was one to talk when I couldn't keep the children under control when making a potion, you see, I'd had a Longbottom offspring, or so it would seem, in class and he put Biller Sweat in a Sleepless potion. The cauldron exploded and once…child… was sent to the hospital wing. I'd told the boy that he was to never grace the doorway's of my class room again and that he should really look into apprenticing with Filch because obviously, his skills in the magical community were severally lacking. McGonagall cornered me and let it be known that I'd brought the dund…child," He corrected himself when Hermione put a protective hand over her stomach, "to tears."

"Well it couldn't have surprised you." Hermione mumbled as she rolled her eyes.

"What was that, Miss Granger?" Severus asked.

"It's Mrs. Malfoy now, Severus." Draco said quickly when he saw Hermione's mouth open.

"How did you make Minerva cry?" she asked in an even tone.

"I just told you." Severus answered with narrowed eyes.

"No you didn't. You just told us a story to make us think you did. It takes more than that to make Minerva cry." Hermione said with a smug smile.

"fine." He said sounding like a five year old that was sentenced to timeout. "I don't even see why I'm telling you."

"Because you came here." Hermione shot back with a glare.

"I told her to get the sick out of her ass and stop playing favorites to the Gryffindor's"

"You told her that?" Draco asked with a smile.

"In more words, but yes." He answered with a smirk.

"I can't believe you! Both of you! She's had a lot of stress to deal with since Albus stepped down as Headmaster. She wasn't prepared and has been doing the best she can due to the circumstances." Hermione exploded at them both. "That would be like someone telling you to wash your hair and actually get a life." Hermione glared at Severus.

"I wash my hair daily!" He protested at once.

"Running water through it doesn't count! Get some shampoo and conditioner." Hermione said with a smirk that rivaled Severus'.

"I wash my hair daily with shampoo and conditioner you know-it-all wench." Severus hissed at her.

"Know-it-all wench?" Hermione yelled at him. "I'll show you know-it-all wench."

Draco dived for Hermione's wand as soon as she took it out of the pocket of her robe. He glared at Severus, who was staring back at him with an expression that could only be surprise. He noticed that Severus was flexing his wand hand, as if he longed to get his wand but knew better. Thank God for small favors.

"Severus, I think it's time we bring this meeting to an end. Please write before you decide to stop back again." Draco panted after Hermione struggled, almost winning, with him for her wand.

"Yes, I think that would be best for everyone." Hermione agreed, with eyes that were in the shape of slits.

"I think I shall do that." Severus said as he watched Draco hold Hermione back with an arm. "Good luck with your pregnancy, Hermione. Draco." He said as a good-bye.

Hermione followed him with her eyes as he left and then started hitting Draco's hand away when the door closed behind the former black bat of the dungeons. Draco snatched his arm away from her but soon returned it, only placing it behind her shoulders.

"Are you okay?" he asked when her breath had come to an even pace.

"Yes." She answered after a pause. "He shouldn't have gotten to me but he's gotten even worse since we were there." She explained, leaning into Draco.

"Yeah, I can see how he made McGonagall cry." Draco said, fully agreeing with her.

"I'm going to go lay back down. That's wiped me out."

Draco agreed with her, helped her up and led the way to the bedroom.

"You lay down; I'm going to get the surprise I was telling you about. You seem to need it now more than ever." He explained before he took off up stairs, to the unused bedrooms.

He entered the guest bedroom and went to the closet, thankful that Hermione let the house elves take care of the upstairs rooms. She'd have found it in an instant. He picked up the brown paper bag and went down to the bedroom to find Hermione sitting up against the headboard.

"Waiting for something?" he asked with a smile.

"What did you get me?" she asked with a contented smile.

"I'm not telling you, open it and find out." He said, handing her the bag and then sitting on the side of the bed to watch her reaction.

"Oh, Draco." She gasped when she opened the bag and looked in.

Draco smiled and nodded at her to keep looking. She took out the night gown that Draco had had specially made for her. It would grow with her through the pregnancy. He heard her gasp again and looked up to see her looking at him with tears in her eyes. The 'Thank you' she said could barely be heard through her sobs. He stood up from the end of the bed and walked the short distance to hug her and kiss her forehead.

"I guess I've been thinking about decorating too." He said with a watery smile of his own. It wasn't that he would cry easily, but to see her so happy was enough to bring tears to anyone's eyes. He watched as she upended the bag and looked at the contents. On the bed sat a crib, playpen and a changing table, each small enough to fit into the palm of her hand. "All we have to do is spell them back to their original size and we have part of a nursery." He explained unnecessarily.

"Oh, Draco." She sighed again, tears now falling down her face.

"I love you, Hermione."

"I love you too. I thought you said we should wait?" Hermione asked, confused.

"I know, but what I say and what I think are two different things." He answered, taking the crib and setting in front of the bed. He muttered a spell and watched as it grew back to the original size. "Do you like it?" he asked, looking up at her for approval.

"I love it, Draco. How did you know what I wanted?"

"I've seen the magazine that you keep on your side table. You had it marked." Draco explained, shrugging.

Hermione smiled at him and he smiled back. Glad that she was pleased, Draco re-shrunk the crib and set it back on the bed.

"Let's start tomorrow. You have the week end off and we can do how ever much or how ever little you want."

"I've trained you well, Draco." Hermione said with a giggle. She winked at him and then picked the changing table to examine it.

"Yes, Hermione, that you do." Draco agreed in a whisper while he watched his wife oh and ah over her gifts. "That you do."


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING. I know, I thought I did too, but after further review it was ruled that...I don't.

Thanks for the reviews from everyone!

A big ol' THANK YOU tolyrabelaqua for being my beta.

* * *

Hermione Malfoy was hungry. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that the only things she'd felt like eating she'd promised herself not to; she'd have to remember to not make hasty decisions like that again.

"I'm hungry." she said in a sing-song voice as she rolled over onto her side to look at her husband, who was feigning sleep. "Draco, wake up, I'm hungry." she said again, pushing his shoulder, and not lightly. His eyes were still closed, although she saw what looked like a twitch at the corner of his mouth. "Draco….please." she tried again, sighing loudly.

"Can't you see I'm sleeping?" he finally asked, his eyes cracking open.

"You are not; you just spoke to me." she huffed.

"I talk in my sleep." he mumbled as an explanation as his eyes closed once more.

"No you don't. I've slept in the same bed with you for four years and haven't heard you talk in your sleep once."

"It's two o'clock in the morning, Hermione. I am not discussing this with you." he said firmly, his eyes never opening to check the time, although he was correct.

"What do you mean 'I'm not discussing this with you'?" she demanded when he pulled the covers more tightly around his shoulders.

"Go to back to sleep." he groaned, turning over and opening his eyes to glare at her.

"Don't you glare at me, Draco Alexander!" she started, gathering steam when he simply rolled his eyes at her.

"Hermione, you've just woken me up because you are hungry." he spoke to her as if speaking to a child; something that didn't help the present situation. "_I_ am not hungry. _You_ are. General knowledge tells us that if someone is hungry, they get up and get food to satisfy their hunger." The vein in her forehead grew more pronounced: it seemed that that statement was also something that didn't help the situation.

"How dare you! I am pregnant with your child and you are being condescending towards me. You are an evil person." she exploded, throwing the covers off of her and rolling out of bed.

Draco closed his eyes and groaned again before he followed suit and followed his wife to where ever she was stomping off to. He found her in the kitchen, a loaf of bread out and a knife on the counter. He looked around for her and saw her marching out of the pantry with a jar of peanut butter under one arm and a jar of grape jelly under the other.

"There's already a jar open, love." he offered, stepping back at the murderous glare she sent him as she slammed both jars onto the counter.

"I know that, and don't you 'love' me." She snarled her glare in place as she ripped two pieces of bread out of the bag and slapped them down onto the counter, a paper towel apparently unneeded.

"You don't know what has been on the counter, get a paper towel." He admonished, tentatively stepping closer to her. He sighed as her eyes narrowed further as she took the knife, removed the lid from the jar and took a big swipe of the peanut butter and shrugged his shoulders. "You'd rather put our baby at risk of getting food poisoning than listen to me?" he asked, an eye brow rose.

"I wouldn't give my child something that could harm them." She said as she ripped a paper towel from the paper towel holder. He raised his eyebrows once more as she slapped the paper towel onto the counter and got more bread to begin another sandwich.

"Your child?" he asked when she had the sandwich assembled and took a bite only to start tearing at the crust while she was chewing. "You're not going to have a sandwich if you keep up that way." He pointed out when she continued to tear at the sandwich after a good part of the top crust was gone.

"What do you care?" she asked as she took another bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

"I don't know what I did, but can you please let it go and go back to bed?" he asked when she was close to finishing the sandwich.

He turned and walked back to their room, fell into bed and pulled the discarded covers over himself. He heard her shuffle into the room before he felt the bed dip and the covers move slightly as she settled herself into bed.

"I'm sorry." he heard spoken softly behind him, as if she was sure he was asleep and wouldn't hear him.

He turned around and put an arm around her waist to pull her closer to him, his eyes closed. She sighed and snuggled up to him, her cheek resting on his chest, his chin resting on the top of her head, and they both fell into a peaceful sleep.

"Draco, wake up." Draco groggily looked over his shoulder at the doorway and mumbled something that sounded almost like "What?" when he saw his wife standing there. "Harry and Ron are coming over today, they've just flooed." she informed him as she flicked her wand to the window, giving a small triumphant smile when her husband groaned at the sudden onslaught of light that was streaming through the window, directly in his face.

"Hermione stop it." he whined before turning over and moving deeper into the cocoon he'd made of the sheets and blankets of their bed.

"Come on, Draco. They're going to be here soon." She said in a voice that had Draco looking back over his shoulder at her.

"You're not going to cry are you?" he asked when she stared back at him as her chin quivered slightly.

"No." she snapped, sniffling quietly.

"You don't play fair." he groused as he got out of bed and stumbled to the dresser.

"Of course I play fair." she shot back; all traces of sadness now non-existent.

"Yeah, sure." he muttered, rolling his eyes and throwing a pair of boxers over his shoulder onto the bed along with a pair of well worn jeans, something Hermione demanded he buy when they began dating, and a t-shirt that had also seen better days.

"Why are you wearing that?" she demanded when he stripped off his pajama pants and slipped on the boxers, which sported golden snitches on a silver material.

"I'm going to start on the nursery today?" he asked more than answered, unsure of where she was going with this.

"Oh." Her mouth formed a surprise 'o' also: "Oh, alright."

"You don't want me to start it today?" he asked, stepping into his jeans and pulling them up, fastening them and forgoing a belt.

"I do… but Harry and Ron are coming over. I can't remember the last time I've seen them." She sighed, looking hopelessly torn.

"If they helped paint we'd get done faster and you could spend time with them." He coaxed, a crooked smile on is face, something he knew she couldn't resist.

"We would, wouldn't we?" she asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "You wouldn't mind?" she asked with barely disguised excitement in her voice.

"No, love, I wouldn't mind." he assured her.

"I'll go floo them and tell them to wear casual clothes." she practically squealed. He watched with a full fledged grin on his face as she skipped out of the room. He could hear her talking in the other room and pulled his shirt over his head before walking up to the now empty room that would soon be filled with baby furniture and toys.

He looked around the room and felt a shiver of happiness slither down his spine as he thought of the child that would fill this room with life, make the house truly a home, not that it wasn't already that, it would just bring everything full circle. They would have to move the master bedroom into one of the two remaining rooms that were on the second floor of their home before the baby was born so Hermione wouldn't have to get up and walk up a flight of stairs when the baby was hungry in the middle of the night; they planned on breast feeding so Draco couldn't very well take her place, although he would if he could.

"There you are, I thought you'd run away." he heard Hermione say behind him. There was a smile on her face, he knew, even though he wasn't looking at her.

"I'm hurt that you would even think such a thought." he said as he spun around, a wounded look on his face, or as wounded as he could pull off with a smile on his face.

She laughed and walk towards him to give him a peck on the cheek.

"You insult my character and all I get is a kiss?' he asked with a feigned look of injustice, his arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her towards him gently.

"Behave." she warned, although there was no real conviction in her voice.

"I always behave, love," he murmured as he began to drop light kisses on the curve of her neck.

"Draco, stop. Harry and Ron…"

"Can wait." He assured her as he continued his ministrations, his focus moving to her the shell of her ear, an extremely sensitive part of her anatomy.

"Yes, I suppose... " she agreed, her voice becoming low and husky.

"I suggest we..." he started only to break off in a groan at a voice that called:

"'Mione?"

"I hate your friends." he muttered darkly before untangling his arms from her waist and moving away from her. Although they were married, Weasley had a problem with Draco touching Hermione.

"Draco Alexander Malfoy!" she scolded him before she hit his arm lightly.

Draco was going to answer but heard footsteps coming up the stairs and settle on giving her a look that promised this would be settled later, a look she smirked at.

"Hermione?" Draco heard from the top of the stairs.

"In here, Ron." She called out, turning towards the door and looking around at the room.

"Hi, 'Mione." Harry said with an easy smile as he led Ron into the room. "Draco." He gave a hug to the former, a firm handshake to the latter.

"Potter." The blond acknowledged the other as he returned the handshake and nodded his head.

"Hey, 'Mione." Ron muttered quietly, as if trying to avoid being noticed by Draco.

Hermione gave him a hug and smiled before she turned to Draco, who was looking back at her with an almost expressionless face. He wasn't fond of Ron and made no attempts to hide the fact but she couldn't be upset with him, Ron wasn't helping matters.

"Ferret." The red head practically snarled at the former Slytherin, who glared in return.

"Ronald." Hermione warned with a look that promised an uncomfortable day if she got upset with anyone.

"What?" he asked with a shrug sporting a look of complete innocence. It was still a mystery to Hermione how he could produce that look and actually have you believe him for a few seconds.

"Don't call him ferret." She warned before rounding on her husband. "And don't look so smug, it doesn't suit you."

"Why do I get in trouble for something _your_ friend did?" Draco asked in a voice that would rival spoiled five year olds around the world.

"What colors are we painting the walls, Hermione?" Harry asked when her gaze swung to Draco, a glare set on her face.

"Thank you, Harry." she said with a tight smile as she looked away from her now pouting husband. "I've been thinking pale yellow with a blue stencil around the top, where the molding would be." she said after a second of consideration.

"Blue, eh?" Ron asked with a pointed look to Hermione's stomach.

"Not because of that, Ron. We're not going to find out the sex until after the birth." Hermione explained with a laugh.

"We're not?" Draco asked when she finished her laugh.

"Of course we're not." she said, as if they'd discussed it countless times and both agreed whole heartedly. The fierce look she sent him confirmed his thoughts, they'd never spoken about it, and he wisely held his tongue and conjured the paint.

"Who wants the roller and who wants the brush?" he asked, conjuring them both as well with a sigh. Something told him today was going to be a long day.


End file.
